Some of you never dropped out of high school, got neck-deep in progressive politics, and spent your late teens and early 20s in anarcho-punk-adjacent groups and causes where every disagreement or big change ended with someone forking the IRC channel… and it shows.
Nearly 30 years in and I’ve learned a thing or two.
Mainly, the loudest voice isn’t always the one doing the most good.
And sometimes the most useful response is no response at all.
Let the dust settle.
Let the hot takes cool off.
Let folks rage-type in peace.
If this all sounds exhausting… it is.
But it’s also oddly familiar.
Then, maybe, decide if it’s worth saying something.
Most of the time, it isn’t.
And yeah, that probably makes me sound like the old guy in the back of the DIY space, sipping tea and muttering, “good luck with that.”
Fine.
Back then, I didn’t give the older folks much grace either.
I thought their silence meant they didn’t care.
Turns out, they just knew the difference between a moment and a movement.
Now I do too.
So if I’m quiet during the latest flare-up or ideological fire drill…
It’s not because I’m clueless.
It’s because I’ve been through this before.
And spoiler alert, the IRC channel still got forked.
Also, if you think this is about that thing… it might be.
Or it might be about the last one.
Or the one before that.
Hard to keep track.